It turns out our brains are wired for social interaction,

事實證明，我們的大腦天生傾向於社交互動，

and when we don't get it, the brain changes and you lose nerve connections in certain parts of the brain.

當我們無法得到社交互動時，大腦會產生變化，某些部分的神經連接會減少。

Before COVID, this issue was more noticeable in older people who lived alone, cut off from their families, and maybe unable to drive.

在COVID之前，這個問題在獨居的老年人中更容易被注意到，他們與家人隔絕，可能無法開車。

Researchers saw that the social isolation hastened the age-related cognitive decline, and was a risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.

研究人員發現，社交孤立加速了與年齡相關的認知衰退，並增加了患阿茲海默症的風險。

But with COVID and the ensuing lockdown, we see the evidence of these brain changes in younger people.

但是在COVID和隨後的封鎖期間，我們看到這種大腦變化的證據出現在年輕人中。

You may experience it as brain fog.

你可能會感到腦霧的現象。

Brain fog can be a lot of things, but in general, you can think and process information slower.

腦物可能有很多表現，但一般來說，你的思維和信息處理速度會變慢。

You can have trouble finding words.

你可能會在找詞方面遇到困難。

You can feel mentally tired and draggy, even though you haven't done anything that's physically tiring.

即使你沒有做什麼身體上累人的事情，你可能會感到精神上疲憊和倦怠。

Why would social isolation do this?

為什麼社交孤立會這樣呢？

Your brain is made up of a network of nerves that connect to one another.

你的大腦由一個神經網絡組成，這些神經相互連接。

The tighter the connections between the nerves, the better they are able to transmit signals from one nerve to another.

神經之間的連接越緊密，它們越能夠從一個神經傳遞信號到另一個神經。

Inflammation loosens these connections as does social isolation.

發炎和社交孤立都會使這些連接變得鬆散。

Social isolation affects your social cognition.

社交孤立會影響你的社交認知。

Social cognition is a set of skills that include being able to read someone's emotional expression.

社交認知是一套技能，包括能夠讀懂某人的情感表達。

Remembering and recognizing someone whose face is familiar to you.

記住並認出一張熟悉的臉。

Being able to interpret someone's tone of voice, and being able to empathize with another person and appreciate that they have their own desires, goals, and intentions.

能夠解釋某人的聲音語調，並且能夠同情另一個人，並理解他們有自己的願望、目標和意圖。

This last skill is called theory of mind.

這最後一項技能被稱為心靈理論。

Don't know why it's called that. It doesn't quite make sense to me, but that's just in case you read that in the articles that I have referenced.

不知道為什麼它被稱為心靈理論。對我來說不太合理，但這是我參考的文章中提到的。

These skills are learned very early on, but we need social interaction to maintain them.

這些技能在很早的時候就被學習了，但我們需要社交互動來保持它們。

So some aspect of isolation is that you lose these skills because you fall out of practice.

因此，孤立的某些方面是你失去了這些技能，因為你不再練習它們。

But then there's the brain changes.

但然後還有大腦變化。

In one of the studies that I referenced, researchers looked at structural MRI data from 32,000 people.

在我參考的研究之一中，研究人員檢查了來自3.2萬人的結構性MRI數據。

That's a large study.

這是一個大規模的研究。

The people who were socially isolated showed brain loss in the temporal lobes, frontal lobes and hippocampus.

社交孤立的人顯示出顳葉、額葉和海馬迴的大腦萎縮。

Your hippocampus is important for emotional memories among other functions, and I've said before that people who are depressed have smaller hippocampi.

你的海馬迴對於情感記憶等功能非常重要，我之前提過，患有憂鬱症的人的海馬迴較小。

Now, if you've watched many of my videos, you probably know that I don't like presenting negative information without a silver lining and here it is.

如果你看了我很多的影片，你可能知道我不喜歡呈現負面信息而沒有帶來一絲希望，而這就是希望所在。

Even if you have brain loss from pandemic isolation, depression, long COVID or something else that causes brain damage,

即使你因疫情隔離、憂鬱症、長期COVID或其他導致腦損傷的原因而有大腦萎縮，

your brain has the ability to rewire itself, and strengthen loose connections.

你的大腦有能力重組自己，強化鬆散的連接。

This ability is called neuroplasticity.

這種能力被稱為神經可塑性。

So one solution to this problem of social isolation is to build up your cognitive reserve.

因此，解決社交孤立這個問題的一種方法是建立你的認知儲備。

Cognitive reserve is the mental buffer you have that lets your brain compensate and function even when you have reduced brain volume.

認知儲備是一種精神緩衝，讓你的大腦即使腦容積減少也能夠進行補償和運作。

It's like having a backup power generator turn on when the power goes out.

就像在斷電時啟動備用發電機一樣。

And this is a real thing, and explains why some people can get to their eighties,

這是一個真實存在的事實，解釋了為什麼有些人可以活到80多歲，

and still be very sharp while someone else at 68 is having trouble remembering important events.

而另一個人在68歲時可能已經開始記不住重要的事件。

The more robust your cognitive reserve, the better you're able to function when exposed to stressors like isolation,

你的認知儲備越強大，當受到像孤立、環境毒素、長期壓力或其他對大腦有害的壓力時，你越能夠正常運作。

environmental toxins, chronic stress, or anything else that's damaging to the brain.

因此，你可以將認知儲備看作是你大腦的生理彈性。

So you can think of cognitive reserve as your brain's physiological resilience.

Here are five things that can increase your cognitive reserve.

以下是可以增加你認知儲備的五個方法。

Education.

教育。

High levels of social interaction.

高度的社交互動。

Cognitively challenging jobs.

具有認知挑戰性的工作。

Activities that engage your brain like crossword puzzles.

像填字遊戲等可以激活你的大腦的活動。

Reading.

閱讀。

Learning a new language.

學習一門新語言。

And learning to play an instrument.

以及學習彈奏一個樂器。

And then regular physical exercise because exercise stimulates nerve growth, and nerve growth means new pathways and connections.

還有定期的運動，因為運動能夠促進神經生長，神經生長意味著新的通路和連接。

I explain how that works in my video on how exercise changes your brain.

我在我的運動如何改變你的大腦的影片中解釋了這是如何運作的。

Building up your cognitive reserve is something you do over a lifetime.

建立你的認知儲備是一輩子的事情。

It's not a one and done thing, you have to continuously engage your mind.

這不是一次性的事情，你必須持續參與思維活動。

An education doesn't mean you have to go to Harvard or Oxford, if you're in the UK.

教育並不意味著你必須去哈佛大學或牛津大學（如果你在英國）。

It's not about the kind of degree you get.

這不關乎你取得什麼樣的學位。

It's about a commitment to learning and processing new information.

這關乎學習和處理新信息的承諾。

When I was growing up without the internet, the way that you gained knowledge was to go to school or go to the library, and look things up in encyclopedias.

在我小時候得成長過程，沒有互聯網，你獲取知識的方式是去學校或圖書館，在百科全書中查找信息。

But now there is so much information available online that you can get a very advanced level of education from researching and reading from trusted online sources.

但現在有這麼多在線信息可供使用，你可以從網上查找和閱讀可信的來源中獲得非常高級的教育。

If you want to learn a new language, there's online courses for that.

如果你想學一門新語言，有線上課程可以選擇。

Then there's even free YouTube videos that can teach you a lot about a lot of different things.

然後，甚至有免費的YouTube影片可以教你很多不同的事情。

You just have to stay curious.

你只需要保持好奇心。

This list that I just gave you isn't exhaustive.

我剛才給你的這個清單不是全面的清單。

Diet, sleep and self-care also factor in.

飲食、睡眠和自我照顧也是重要因素。

But the one thing I like about this list is that most of the factors are within your control.

但我喜歡這個清單的一點是，其中大多數因素都在你的掌控之內。

You may not be able to control how challenging your job is.

你可能無法控制你的工作有多具有挑戰性。

In fact, it may be a mind-numbing struggle for you to get through it every day, but you can compensate for the hit that your brain takes from that kind of job by exercising before you go to work.

事實上，對你來說，每天應對這種工作可能是一場令人沮喪的挑戰，但你可以通過在上班前鍛煉來補償你的大腦因此類工作而受到的衝擊。

You can swing that schedule or working on mind puzzles during your lunch hour or when you get home.

你可以調整一下時間表，或者在午餐時間或下班後解決思維難題。

And by the way, don't mistake a stressful job for a mentally-challenging one.

順便說一下，不要將壓力大的工作和具有挑戰性的工作混淆。

Too much work with unrealistic deadlines can make your work stressful, but it doesn't mean it's mentally challenging in a positive way.

太多工作和不切實際的截止日期可能使你的工作變得有壓力，但這並不意味著它在正向的方面具有挑戰性。

Mentally-challenging work should feel satisfying at some level even if it's hard work.

具有挑戰性的工作在某種程度上應該感到滿意，即使它是辛苦的。

Take a look at this video on what exercise does to your brain.

觀看這段影片，了解運動對大腦的影響。

Thanks for watching.

謝謝觀看。

See you next time.

下次見。